Alberta CORE

CORE is back up and Operational

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 16:58:00 +0000

CORE is back up and operational again!
Thank you all for your patience.

CORE Having Technical Difficulties

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 16:39:00 +0000

We just want to let our user community know that CORE is experiencing technical difficulties this morning. Our technical team is working on it right now and we hope to have it up again asap.

We will tweet @core4learning and will post a message here as soon as it is up again.

Thanks for your patience!

CORE is Back Online - Check it Out!

noreply@blogger.com (Tannis Emann) — Sat, 21 Feb 2015 20:15:00 +0000

Great news! The technical difficulties that CORE was experiencing have been fully resolved. Thanks for your patience. Check out the wealth of digital learning resources at www.albertacore.ca

CORE Technical Difficulties

noreply@blogger.com (Tannis Emann) — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 23:01:00 +0000

CORE has been experiencing technical difficulties preventing some users from accessing it. We hope to have the issue resolved as soon as possible.

Please stay tuned here on the CORE blog or Twitter @core4learning for updates.

Thanks for your patience!

Health and Wellness Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 21:21:00 +0000

Students who are both physically and mentally healthy are better able to learn. A comprehensive approach to building a healthy school community is a positive and proactive way to promote health and wellness. To support schools in building healthy communities, a collection of resources to support "Comprehensive School Health" can now be found in CORE (http://albertacore.ca) by searching for the appropriate topic including (use quotation marks to find the exact phrase):

Comprehensive School Health
Physical Activity, Physical Literacy
DPA
Healthy Eating
Healthy Relationships, Positive Social Environments
Positive Mental Health

Digital Citizenship Resources available for CBE Users

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 20:37:00 +0000

If you are working on your schools DC Plan and are part of the CBE, we have GREAT news for you: MediaSmarts' Digital Citizenship resources are now available again in CORE for all CBE users!

LearnAlberta stopped licensing MyWorld and Passport to the Internet back in June, so the CBE has negotiated a license for these resources and put them back into CORE. In addition we have obtained a license for a new collection of Professional Development presentations from MediaSmarts called the Web Awareness Workshop Series. The series deals with everything from online safety to advertising on the internet and cyber-bullying. Be sure to check it out and spread the word! http://delivr.com/2nzs8

From Now Until December 17 - Show Your CORE And You Could Win!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 03:40:00 +0000

The CORE teams at PHRD, RVS, GHRD, FFCA, CBE, and ADLC are joining forces to bring you a fun winter contest! Get involved and you could win prizes. All you have to do is show your CORE.

It’s simple! Here’s how it works:

Between now and Wednesday, Dec 17, 2014, select one or more of the following ways to Show Your CORE. For each way that you share, we’ll add your name to the draw for a prize!

Log in to CORE and explore at least 2 resources
Leave a constructive comment and rating on a CORE resource
Tweet a comment, question, user tip, photo, or the CORE URL of a resource you are using to us @core4learning using the hashtag #showyourcore
Email a: photo of you using CORE, 20-word story, comment, or question to corecontest1@gmail.com
BONUS: Contribute a resource to CORE - a website or self-created resource, and receive two entries for your contribution!

The Fine Print - It’s in regular sized font because it’s THIS IMPORTANT!

Please ensure that you follow your school district’s privacy policies when using Twitter, email, and posting photos. Do not Tweet or email a photo of a student unless you have the proper release form. (You can, however, photograph the back of a student’s head.)

Please be aware that any photos, words, or items that you email or Tweet to us may be used by the CORE team to share your brilliance in other ways, including on social media, via our CORE blog, and on Twitter.

Looking forward to seeing how you show your CORE!

Best wishes from the CORE Team: Salima, Shelley, Greg, Tammy, Cheryl, Nancy, Christine, Alex, Tannis, Arthur, Laurel, Jeff, Sue & Stephanie

CORE (Collaborative Online Resource Environment)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 15 Sep 2014 16:51:00 +0000

This fall we have an exciting new online resource that is available to all of our teachers in PHRD.

CORE is a resource repository that takes a lot of the resources many of us have already been using, and puts them together in one place. No longer do I need to go to Learn Alberta and then Discovery Education and then 2Learn and do three separate searches to find learning resources. CORE lets me run one search and find resources from all of these difference sources. It brings all of my favourite resources together in one spot. I can search Discovery Education, Learn Alberta, CBC Resources, MIT OpenCourseWare, Iris Resources, Pearson Resources, eTexts, Destination Imagination, and so much more! Once I find what I’m looking for, I can save it to my favourites and it’s there for me to use in my classroom at any time.

To make it even easier to find what you are looking for, you can use the “PHRD Power Search” which lets you narrow your search parameters by subject, grade, resource format, resource provider, and language. You can also use the “Browse by…” button to browse materials by grade, by subject and by format. Enter your keyword, and CORE will find a wealth of information for you to look at. Each resource comes with a brief description that will help you to decide if the resource is right for you and your students.

To get a brief overview of CORE and how you might consider using it, you can check out the video below. It was created by CORE and CBE to help explain what CORE is and how teachers and students can make use of it. Just click on the link below and it should take you to the video’s site in CORE.

Core 5 minute Video

Another feature of CORE is that it contains teacher made materials as well. A bit like “Teachers pay Teachers” or “LessonPlans4Teachers.com,” CORE is a place where teachers can upload material and make it available to other teachers within the CORE community. I can find lessons materials on a number of topics and course materials created by other teachers right here in Alberta. For example, when I type “digital citizenship” into the search bar, I find an entire bundle of information for “Digital Citizenship Week” that was put together last year by teachers in Calgary along with the help of George Couros from Parkland School Division. The bundle includes a recorded webinar aimed at junior high and high school students, student and teacher version of a passport to the internet, a planning template and an Ed Talk. This material has already been used by other teachers, and it has been shared in CORE for me to use with my students. In the future, as I develop some of my own learning materials, I will be able to upload them to CORE and share them with teachers in PHRD and in the other participating Alberta school jurisdictions.

Digital Citizenship Resources

One more way to use CORE, is as an online database. All of the online reference center materials from Learn Alberta are available for use through CORE. You can access Bookflix, World Book Kids, Culturegrams, BrainPOP, Britannica School, Shakespeare in Bits, Lit2Go, Visual Dictionary Online, Art Encyclopedia, CN Images of Canada Gallery, The Atlas of Canada, Amazing Animal of the World, World Book Advanced, Visual Thesaurus, The Alberta Online Encyclopedia, CBC News in Review, Grolier Online Passport, and so much more. It’s a great place to take your students using your SMART board and show them how to search for information. I like to use World Book Kids when young kids are researching owls or penguins. For older kids, you can get “Coles notes” type study guides and animated version of “Hamlet” through Shakespeare in Bits, and the CN Images of Canada Gallery would be great for Grade 7 or Grade 5 Social. Eventually, the plan is to make CORE accessible to our students as well. When this happens, you can set up a link to Grolier Online for your students to use when they need to do some research in class. It’s great for younger kids who can get lost trying to do a Google search.

Online Databases

If you haven’t already had a chance to check out CORE, you might want to take a few minutes to run a search or two and see what you can find. Just go to alberta.core.ca and login.

Tammy Tkachuk

Collaborative Lead Teacher

Pembina Hills Regional School Division

Welcome to Your Destination for Learning Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Chan) — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 18:06:00 +0000

This school year, we are excited to have six school districts using CORE to access, share, and comment using dynamic digital learning resources! Every student, teacher, and staff member in our CORE districts has the unique opportunity to explore and participate in the CORE learning community.

Immediate access. You have anywhere, anytime use of 160,000+ educational videos, websites, images, podcasts, games, articles, simulations, experiments, lesson plans, and more.
Comment and rate. Let your voice guide others in the CORE community by leaving comments and feedback on the many resources available. Tell the community how you used a resource, or how it could be improved.
Contribute and share. Share the most valuable resources with your fellow colleagues and students. Contribute resources so that they can be searched, shared, and managed from one easy-to-find online location. (This feature is still being rolled out in specific school districts.)

3 Ways to Get Started

Try this 2-pager of 2-minute intro activities and get to know the CORE features including: saving favourites, searching, commenting, and rating resources.
Check out our 5-minute overview video and our 5-minute features demo to get an introduction to what CORE is all about.
Dive right in and explore! All students and staff can log in with your regular school district username and password at albertacore.ca and take a look around. Try the Power Search button out and start exploring resources!

Wishing all our CORE partners a great school year!

Upcoming CORE Professional Learning & Networking Events

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Chan) — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 22:44:00 +0000

The best professional learning opportunities include three key elements:

Time
Collaborative space
Opportunities to experiment and learn with colleagues

So we're providing you with opportunities that include all of these elements. Check out our upcoming events!

Moderating Student Contributions in CORE - Webinars & Face to Face Events

The student contribution feature will soon be turned on in CORE across the CBE. Contributing to CORE provides an authentic audience for students to share found resources such as videos and websites, gather feedback on work in progress, remix, share, and publish their work in a safe environment.

Each CBE school has designated someone in their building who can act as a the moderator of student contributions. The moderation process is simple and fast. These sessions are for anyone in a school building who may be the moderator of student contributions. We will run through the 2-minute moderation process and show you how to easily transfer moderation duties to any member of your school community. In the face to face sessions, we will also explore how sharing, remixing, and connecting through digital resources can support professional networks and student learning.

Webinars - Three 30-minute live sessions - Monday, April 28th, at 12:30 pm, and Thursday, May 1st at 12:00 pm, and 4:00 pm. Register now. Link to Join
Face to Face - Two face to face sessions on Wednesday, May 7th, from 4:30 - 6:00 pm at Samuel W. Shaw School, and Tuesday, May 13th 4:30 - 6:00 pm at Robert Thirsk High School. Register now. *Please bring your own device.
Self-service - always available, includes instructions (video & PDF), FAQs, moderation checklist and more in this CORE Bundle. Additional resources are available by logging in to CORE > Guide to CORE > Guide for Contributors

CORE Input Advisory (CIA) Team - Face to Face Event

Are you a teacher in CBE, CCSD, RVS, GHSD or CRPS? Are you interested in using digital resources with students and sharing the best digital content to build your PLN? Want to provide input that will help to shape CORE, an innovative edtech prototype? We are inviting all educators in CORE’s participating districts to join the CIA (CORE Input Advisory) Team. CIA events are opportunities to:

Chat and experiment with fellow educators
Pick the brains of the CORE implementation team
Explore digital resource trends, crowdsourcing, and user feedback for learning
Learn through creating and sharing content

Our next event:

When: Wednesday May 14, 2014 from 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Where: Nickle Junior High School, 2500 Lake Bonavista Dr. SE, 2nd Floor Learning Commons
Who: Educators in CBE, CCSD, RVS, GHSD, and CRPS are welcome! Snacks will be provided.
RSVP here for this free opportunity. *Please bring your own device.

If you can’t make it to an event, watch for resource posts and future events in different locations around the city via Twitter @core4learning and here on the CORE blog.

Questions? Tweet us or email Stephanie at sdchan@cbe.ab.ca.

Exciting News! The CBE is Getting Ready for Student Contributions and Sharing in CORE

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Chan) — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 17:56:00 +0000

Teachers and students have been making great use of CORE!

Students and staff have provided 700+ comments and ratings to help their fellow users
Teachers and staff have contributed over 1,300+ resources, links to useful websites, videos and articles, lesson plans, self-created items, and links to useful websites, videos and articles
77% of teachers have now used CORE and student use is rapidly rising

Announcing Student Contributions to CORE

The student contribution feature will soon be turned on in CORE. Contributing to CORE provides an authentic audience for students to publish and share work, a platform where they can get feedback and input on work in progress, and an opportunity to remix and share their work in a safe environment. To enable students to contribute, each CBE school will designate someone in their building who can act as a the moderator of student contributions. The moderation process is simple and fast. The role of the moderator is simply to:

Scan metadata, keywords, and resource information in the contribution wizard for accuracy and searchability
Confirm media release forms are in place when needed

For the time being, the role of CORE Student Content Moderator (SCM) for each school has been automatically assigned to your School Educational Technology Contact (SETC) (each Principal designated this person at the beginning of the school year). The principal or SCM designate at your school can change this assignment at any time using the moderator assignment tool. School-based moderators can choose how they would like to learn about moderation through self-service or hands-on experiences. CBE's CORE Team in ILT will provide three types of optional supports:

Self-service - includes instructions (video & PDF), FAQs, moderation checklist and more in this CORE Bundle. Additional resources are available by logging in to CORE > Guide to CORE > Guide for Contributors
Webinars - Three 30-minute live sessions - Monday, April 28th, at 12:30 pm, and Thursday, May 1st at 12:00 pm, and 4:00 pm. Register now. Link to join: http://eduadvisory.adobeconnect.com/corepartnerswebinar/
Face to Face - Two face to face sessions on Wednesday, May 7th, from 4:30 - 6:00 pm, and Tuesday, May 13th 4:30 - 6:00 pm. Register now.

If you have any questions, please contact Sue Bell smbell@cbe.ab.ca or Stephanie Chan sdchan@cbe.ab.ca.

We're looking forward to seeing CORE grow as students and teachers leverage the system for sharing and collaborating.

Pssst...Last Night at the CORE CIA Event

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Chan) — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 18:26:00 +0000

Last night, we kicked off our first not-so-undercover CORE CIA Professional Learning & Networking Event. Members of the CORE Input Advisory Team trekked through the snow all the way to the Rocky View Schools Education Centre to:

Chat and experiment with fellow educators
Pick the brains of the CORE implementation team
Explore digital resource trends, crowdsourcing, and user feedback for learning
Get started with accessing, creating, and sharing content

We're sending a shoutout to: Agents Slalom, Lorenzo, M. Trevor, Captain BVI, room36, Bunny, Blaster, Special OPS, Twix, and those agents who haven't yet shared their undercover names. Be ready next time! We started off with a brief intro and networking activity. Here's what it looked like as we were filling out our networking cards.

Just getting started with our CIA session! #AlbertaCORE pic.twitter.com/25lhUs2PFR
— Alberta Core (@core4learning) April 16, 2014

The groups then moved into discussions about what networking and building your PLN is like in both online and face to face settings, and how accessing and sharing the resources that you find most useful in CORE can support professional learning.

Chatting about CORE and professional networks at our CIA session. pic.twitter.com/Uz32z62TCz
— Alberta Core (@core4learning) April 16, 2014

The CORE team sees many intersections around how people share and learn together.

The CIA Agents who came to our session mentioned the importance of face to face events like this to stay in touch with each other, learn about what other educators are doing, and sharing resources with a wider network. So we are hosting more of them! Some used an array of tools including Twitter, blogs, and Google+ to share their insights. Here are some ideas for how to continue the conversation:

Check out the CIA bundle in CORE and share with your colleagues. It includes all of the resources that we used last night

Use this feedback survey to tell us what you would like to see at our next session

Take the conversation online with Twitter @core4learning and sign up for email updates here on the CORE blog

Join additional edtech networking sessions hosted by CBE's ILT Team (all districts are welcome, no registration necessary)

Watch for updates on our next face-to-face CIA event in May. We'll post the details on the CORE blog and Twitter feed as soon!

If you're attending EdCamp YYC on April 21, members of the CORE team will be there to support anyone interested in chatting about CORE

See you online, in person, and undercover...

Shades on!
~The CORE Team

Half a Million Page Views and Growing!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 16:02:00 +0000

In running the statistics for CORE this morning I was excited to notice that we have passed the 500,000 point for total page views since September 2013. As more people hear about CORE and take the time to explore it to see what it has to offer, we are seeing our usership grow significantly.

In January of 2013 we had just 1100 teachers registered and using CORE. As of this month, we are at over 18,000 teachers and students. That's cause for celebration!

If you are one of our 18,000 plus users, please take a moment to share your story of how you use CORE and why. Keep spreading the word to make the CORE community even stronger.

Here's How

Who: All students and staff who have used CORE are welcome to share!

Length: Anywhere between 2-200 sentences long. Feel free to include links, images, and anything else that illustrates your experience.

Where: Submit your story now at http://albertacore.blogspot.ca/

Follow Us & Your Stories

Twitter @core4learning https://twitter.com/core4learning
CORE blog http://albertacore.blogspot.ca/

CORE CIA Input Advisory Team - Professional Learning Networking Kick-Off Event

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Chan) — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 12:59:00 +0000

Haven't registered yet? No problem. Just come!

Calling All Agents! Get ready to learn through a networked professional learning experience, provide input, and experiment! Are you a teacher in CBE, CCSD, RVS, GHSD or CRPS? Are you interested in using digital resources with students and sharing the best digital content to build your PLN? Want to provide input that will help to shape CORE, an innovative edtech prototype?

We are inviting all educators in CORE’s participating districts to join the CIA (CORE Input Advisory) Team. CIA events are opportunities to:

Chat and experiment with fellow educators
Pick the brains of the CORE implementation team
Explore digital resource trends, crowdsourcing, and user feedback for learning
Learn through creating and sharing content

Join us at our CIA Team Kick-Off Event!

When: Wednesday April 16, 2014 from 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm

Where: Rocky View Schools Education Centre, 2651 Chinook Winds Drive, Airdrie, AB, Room: Wild Rose A

Who: Educators in CBE, CCSD, RVS, GHSD, and CRPS are welcome!

RSVP for this free opportunity: http://tiny.cc/corecia

Snacks will be provided.

Unlike the real CIA, this isn’t a secret. Bring your colleagues to explore the many ways in which CORE supports learning. If you can’t make it to our event, watch for resource posts and future events in different locations around the city via Twitter @core4learning and here on the CORE blog.

Questions? Tweet us or email Stephanie at sdchan@cbe.ab.ca.

See you there!

CORE Resource Spotlight: Munk Debates

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Chan) — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 16:03:00 +0000

Here's a new addition to the CORE resources that can be used to support learning in Social Studies, English Language Arts, Journalism, and Debate at the high school level.

Check out these great debate resources in CORE on a range of great topics including: Healthcare, China, Foreign Aid, Religion, Climate Change, Humanitarian Intervention, Taxing the Rich, North American Economy, Europe, Gender, and the next one (that will be streamed live on May 2, 2014) on State Surveillance.

Debaters include significant thinkers like: Tony Blair, Niall Ferguson, Henry Kissinger, Stephen Lewis, Mia Farrow, Elizabeth May, Caitlin Moran and more.

After the event, you can access transcripts and short video clips. We've included a full list of the debates here in CORE. NOTE: Free sign-up required to access resources.

Here's a small taste of a few of the debate questions:

Healthcare. Do ballooning healthcare spending, evermore expensive prescription drugs and an increased use of private medicine foreshadow the wholesale reform of Canada’s universal, single-payer system? Or, are the divisive debates, social inequities, and sky-high expenditures associated with the U.S. experience with private medicine a validation of Canada’s universal Medicare system?

China. Is China's rise unstoppable? Powered by the human capital of 1.3 billion citizens, the latest technological advances, and a comparatively efficient system of state-directed capitalism, China seems poised to become the global super power in the coming century. The MunkDebates will table the motion: Be it resolved, the 21st century will belong to China.

Foreign Aid. In a world where over 3 billion people live on under $2 a day, where economies and threats are globally interconnected, and where only small amounts of aid are given, should wealthy nations do more? Or, given the poor track record of aid, the support it provides to dictators and tyrants, and the actual need for individual entrepreneurialism and free markets, should we focus our limited resources elsewhere? The debate question was: Is foreign aid doing more harm than good?

Gender. Since the beginning of human civilization, men have been the dominant sex. But now, for the first time, a host of indicators suggest that women are not only achieving equality with men but are fast emerging as the more successful sex of the species. Are men, and the age-old power structures associated with “maleness,” permanently in decline? Or do men still retain significant control over the workplace, the family and society at large, including women? Where are the sexes headed in the 21st century?

From the site: Held semi-annually since 2008, the Munk Debates are Canada’s premier public policy forum. The Debates take place in Toronto in the evening in front of an audience of 3,000 people at Roy Thomson Hall. The event lasts approximately an hour and a half. Two panelists argue for a debate style motion and two against. The format is short opening statements followed by a civil and substantive moderated panel discussion, followed by short closing statements.

Have you used these resources? How? Leave a comment below this post or about the specific resource directly in CORE. We encourage all students and staff to leave ratings and comments in CORE (your first name will appear with your comment)!

A Pot of Gold Filled with CORE Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 18:53:00 +0000

Are we every lucky! The wealth of resources keeps growing in CORE and we are excited to continue to share some highlights with you each weekday in March (or until our resident leprechaun goes on Spring Break). Follow us on Twitter @core4learning or check back here where we will share the daily resource treasures.

How CORE Fits in the Digital Learning Ecosystem

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Chan) — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 14:30:00 +0000

Yesterday, I wrote a blog post on the Innovation & Learning Technology (ILT) blog about approaching educational technologies as parts of a larger whole. I explained that, as educators and learners, we should feel in command of our edtech instead of the other way around. CORE is one of many players with specific role(s) within our digital learning ecosystem.

CORE is best at helping you do these things:

Use immediately. Search, access and use digital resources from multiple repositories like Discovery Education, CBC, and LearnAlberta from one location, instead of searching each one separately.
Publish and share. Publish in a secure district-wide OR publicly accessible community. You can invite others to use and remix your items if you wish.
Easily manage your resources. As the contributor, you can edit, archive, delete, and even change ownership of a resource at any time. Share the CORE URL for a resource in any online location, including your LMS (like D2L or Moodle), blog, or website.
Share your thoughts. Use the comment and ratings features (similar to reviews on Amazon) to tell other users how a resource fits into learning and teaching in a particular context.

On the other hand, CORE is not great at helping you do these things:

Sharing with a smaller group than your school district. In this case you may wish to use a Web 2.0 tool or LMS course shell (like D2L or Moodle).
Collaborating in real-time. Contributing an item in CORE means that you are sharing it (whether in draft or final form) with others in the CORE community. If you want to collaborate in the same document in real time, you might consider Google Drive instead. However, you can always share your Google link in CORE like we have with our constantly-updated FAQs.

Let's take our list of what CORE is best at one step further. Here's a generic example that illustrates the role that CORE could play in a group inquiry project. You can see how different pieces of technology can be used throughout the learning process, based on their features and functions.

This example shows how:

a) Small group work can be organized and carried out using Google Apps
b) Research, publishing, sharing, and commenting can be done through CORE
c) Student reflections can be used throughout using Iris or other digital portfolio tool, and
d) Web and video resources can be shared, published and used as part of the learning process through CORE.

Here's a link to the original item in CORE in a form that you can modify, remix, reuse, and share.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on how you use CORE and what it's best at in your learning context. Leave us a comment!

Stephanie
& the CORE team

Check Us Out At #CCTC2014!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 20:42:00 +0000

Wanting to know more about CORE, have a chance to talk to others about it, or to have a chance to chat with the CORE working team? Be sure to join us at the Calgary City Teachers' Convention on Thursday morning from 8:30 - 9:45 for a hands on session where we will explore the environment and work through the contribution process. The session will be held in Macleod E4 (Basement) in the TELUS South Building.

Want a sneak peek? CLICK HERE to dive into our session resources:

PPT overview of CORE
Quick-start activity sheet (1-page)
CORE features poster for your classroom and school
Example of how CORE fits with other educational tech within an inquiry project (D2L, student profile tools, YouTube, websites, etc.)
5-min video demo and overview of CORE
Additional resources

Make use of the resources and happy CORE-ing!

We Love Stories. We Want Yours!

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie Chan) — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 14:00:00 +0000

A brand new story-sharing feature has just been launched on the CORE blog! We want to highlight your short story, example, or experience while using, accessing and collaborating through digital resources at https://www.albertacore.ca. Submit your story and it could be showcased on the blog and through Twitter!

Here's How

Who: All students and staff who have used CORE are welcome to share!

Length: Anywhere between 2-200 sentences long. Feel free to include links, images, and anything else that illustrates your experience.

Where: Submit your story now at http://albertacore.blogspot.ca/

When: Submit your story for our 'first run' by March 1, 2014

Follow Us & Your Stories

Twitter @core4learning https://twitter.com/core4learning
CORE blog http://albertacore.blogspot.ca/

Be Swept Off Your Feet and Into CORE

noreply@blogger.com (Tannis Emann) — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 18:39:00 +0000

We have felt the love from our CORE users around daily CORE resource suggestions, and so for February we are continuing to highlight a resource every weekday. Help us spread the love of CORE by sharing this blog post, our daily tweets from @core4learning, and the daily resource suggestions. Check back every day for a sweet resource treat!

Destination Imagination Resources in CORE for CBE Users

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 18:11:00 +0000

Destination Imagination is a resource for grade 3-9 classroom teachers that promotes the acquisition of 21st century competencies and skills through open-ended creative problem-solving projects, with an explicit focus on teaching 21st century competencies (4Cs- creative problem-solving, critical thinking, communication, collaboration). The Classroom Edition provides teachers with inquiry-based projects that deepen students’ 21st century learning skills - transforming education by changing behaviors, attitudes, and creating authentic learning experiences. Each of the challenges represent a cross-curricular, integrated open ended project,supported by a lesson plan that follows a gradual release of responsibility model, and is coupled with various self-assessment and formative assessment options for teachers to use. All of the challenges and assessments are modifiable with the intent that they can become authentic learning experiences for students, and the resource is flexible enough to use as teachers see fit. Teachers and students will be able to find all of the challenges in CORE. Teachers will also have access to all corresponding assessments, curriculum correlations, etc.

To access Destination Imagination resources in CORE:

Login to CORE using your CBE credentials
Click on the [CBE Power Search] button in the middle of the page
Under "Major Providers" click [Destination Imagination]
Add any additional search terms or search queries
Click [Search]

To access a concise "how-to" guide, add the words: "getting started" to the search described above.
To learn more about Destination Imagination, click here.

Student Use on the Rise

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 23:48:00 +0000

CORE is a valuable tool to support teachers in planning for learning, but it is also an excellent resource to support students in their learning. While teachers were our early users, they have been bringing their students into the environment and students are seeing its value as a source of quality resources. Student daily use of CORE surpassed teacher use as of November 2013!

Student Commenting is Open in CORE

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 23:36:00 +0000

Our users value what other users have to say about the quality and usefulness of resources in CORE, both student comments and teacher comments.

Crowdsourcing resource evaluations is a great way to leverage the networking capabilities in CORE. Become an active member of the CORE community by commenting on and rating the resources you use in CORE.

Join the CIA! Chart the Future of the CORE Prototype for Digital Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 13:00:00 +0000

If you've always wanted to join the CIA, here's your chance!

Are you a teacher in CBE, CCSD, RVS, GHSD or CRPS?
Are you interested in using digital resources with students and sharing the best digital content to build your PLN?
Want to provide input on tough decisions that will help to shape CORE, an innovative edtech prototype?

Then join the CORE Input Advisory Team! Beginning in February 2014, we'll be hosting events for CIA members where you can:

Chat face to face with fellow teachers who use CORE
Pick the brains of the CORE implementation team
Discuss future trends in digital resources
Explore digital resource crowdsourcing and user feedback
Learn through creating and sharing content

Want to learn more? Simply take our 2-minute survey (1-click questions only, no typing answers!) and tell us your name and email at the end. We'll send you info about the team. And for the 20+ members who have already signed up, keep your eyes peeled to your inboxes. More info to come!

~The CORE Team

A Flurry of January Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 16:48:00 +0000

Cozy up to this blog post to discover a different CORE resource every weekday in January. We will brighten your days with a new tip, resource, or idea for learning and teaching from the wealth of digital resources located at albertacore.ca. Click on the coloured circles on the snowflakes to access these exciting resources. Check back daily!